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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27612421">Mystical Mystery Shack</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aokeoa/pseuds/Aokeoa'>Aokeoa</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Gravity Falls, Merlin (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/M, M/M, Slice of Life, Slow Burn, no beta we die like men</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-11-18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 04:49:02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>10,781</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27612421</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aokeoa/pseuds/Aokeoa</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Merlin just wanted a normal summer where he and Will could hang out and Not work at his great uncle’s tourist trap and get yelled at by the Mayor for corrupting the town once a week. But that becomes a non option after Merlin breaks his arm and Will leaves for the summer to help his grandma. Everything looks dreary. But Wait! Arther and morgana are back from boarding school and they need his help.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Gwen/Lancelot (Merlin), Merlin/Arthur Pendragon (Merlin)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>13</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Exposition</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>So! We set our scene!</p><p>This is Merlin, but in the Gravity Falls setting.  It has been a hot second since I have watched either of these, so don't count on too much.</p><p>We'll see Arthur and Morgana plenty, just not quite yet</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Honestly it all fucking started at graduation. He’d been walking across the stage to get his diploma and turned to look at his mom and. Well he tripped on the cord to microphone and stumbled and oh god he fell of the stage and broke his fall with his wrist and broke his wrist with his fall. What a great start to summer. 🙃</p><p>...</p><p>He and Will had plans to hang out and try (alcohol) at the class wide graduation party some of his classmates were holding. But that was out the window cause he spend the entire night at the ER with his mom. His mom showed him the whole thing on video because of COURSE she was recording her baby.  </p><p>Oh god. He didn’t even get to grab his diploma or do the handshake or any of it.  </p><p>What a fucking lame thing.  Why couldn’t he just have one picture perfect moment? Like just one???</p><p>...</p><p>“How long will it take to heal???” Merlin said looking at the X-ray but having no No idea what it meant.</p><p>“Wrist fractures like you have take about 8 weeks.” </p><p>“Hear that Merlin! You’ll have it off in time for college!”</p><p>You mean I’ll have it on all summer, he thought lamenting his loss of an arm and what he had hoped would be a memorable summer.</p><p>—————————————————————-</p><p>“What do you mean leaving?!?!” Merlin sputtered out “Will I Can’t do this without you?!? We had plans!”</p><p>“I know, but my grandma is recovering and my mom says we need to help out.” Will handed him back the sharpie after signing Merlin's (bright green) cast.</p><p>Merlin's heart fell a bit farther, he really couldn’t guilt trip him for something like that. “I’m gonna miss you.” He said quietly because his voice was very much in danger of cracking.</p><p>“We’ll talk! I don’t get good reception where she lives (in Montana), but we can still email.  And I got you a present!”  he pulled out a Polaroid camera. “It feels sorta dumb now that I’m leaving and you can only use one arm.”</p><p>Merlin accepted it and got teary. His best friend was leaving tomorrow. Literally tomorrow. They had plans to actually be cool this summer and do things Other than work.</p><p>But now he lost that too.  He and Will had never even gone a week apart since sophomore year when Merlin got “mono” and was out of school for 9 days.  (He actually had the misfortune of running into a unicorn when trying to get some herbs for Uncle Guias and it cursed him so that he could only speak in rhyming couplets and was too embarrassed to let him come and visit)</p><p>“Can I have a hug?” Merlin sniffled a bit.  He tried to whip his nose with the back of his right hand but just scratched it with his cast. RIP to using his dominant arm for anything.</p><p>Will pulled him in, his cast making it a little awkward, but still good. “I really appreciate it, I’m gonna miss you so much”</p><p>“I know, me too.” They stayed like that for a while merlin trying not to cry from frustration. </p><p>————————————————————</p><p>“So Uncle Guias wanted to know if you wanted to work for him this summer?”  His mom asked.</p><p> </p><p>“Ugh.” He’s helped out before, but he was trying to avoid it this summer. Uncle Guias ran a local tourist attraction, it showcased the “magical” side of the area. And it wasn’t an awful gig (which was code for good coworkers but paid like shit). But Merlin could do Actual magic and working at a place full of fake magic that he had to pretend was real was ExHausting.  And Mayor Pendragon would come in every other week and try to ruin Uncle Guias’s - and by extension- Merlin's life.  </p><p>“You need money for college Sweetie.”</p><p>“But mom, I'm on scholarship. And I am literally broken.” He lifted up his arm in emphasis, “Can’t I just not??”</p><p>“Let me rephrase.” His mom said in her I’m In charge voice “you’re working for uncle Guias this summer. You can’t just sulk around the house it’s toxic.”</p><p>Deep breath you love your mother you love your mother you love your mother “Fine. When does he want me to start?”</p><p>“Tomorrow to open. Thanks sweetie!”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. More Exposition</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>A short little bby chapter for my short attention span. Idk I feel like this is gonna be more slice of life/character study than anything else. hope u like it</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Oh my god! Gwen!!” Merlin forgot his favorite (and only) work friend was back from college. </p><p>“Merlin!” She was a year older than him, and she was the coolest person he had ever met. They had worked together on and off for the last four years.</p><p>“How Are you!! How was college?”</p><p>“There’s so much to tell!” She said excitedly, she had just finished her freshman year at college. “But first: what happened to your arm?”</p><p>“Oh,., uhh” Merlin stalled, not wanting to tell her about the mortifying experience.</p><p>“Merlin’s arm you ask?” His uncle Guias strode in followed by a handsome guy who looked like a real adult, but not like he’d been out of college long at all- which meant unattainable, but close enough to make you sad. He felt his heart sink when he saw Guias pull out his phone “Let me show you the video Gwen it’s Hilarious. Hunnith sent me a video.”</p><p>“Hi I’m Lance the new handy man.” The handsome handy man- Lance introduced himself while the other two were were watching the video.</p><p>“Merlin, Guias is my mom’s uncle, I work here over breaks.”</p><p>“Oh Merlin!” Gwen exclaimed, she was part laughing, part seriously sympathetic. She went over to the counter and grabbed a sharpie. “You poor thing!” </p><p>His face flushed and he held his arm out for her to sign his cast. This was so embarrassing. Did they have to do this in front of  the new guy? It was so uncool. </p><p>“Send me that video guias” Gwen called as guias walked up to turn the closed sign to open. </p><p>“Do you mind if I sign too?” Lance asked as Gwen handed the sharpie to him.</p><p>“Of course not!” Merlin sputtered, face still red but now for a different reason.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Even more exposition???</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Merlin meets Morgana and Arthur</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>ding ding  The door alarm chimed.<br/>
Oof. Merlin looked over at Gwen, his mouth open wide to take a large bite of pasta. (He was getting much better at using a fork with his left hand now, last time he dared a bite so big he had lost it all on his shirt). It had been a crazy morning and they were just now taking their “lunch” which was actually just them sitting on the floor behind the counter hoping no one came in while desperately scarfing down food. Family vacation season was in full swing. </p><p>Gwen quickly swallowed down her bite of sandwich and muttered out “Customers walking in AT MY government mandate lunch break???” </p><p>Merlin set down his fork and continued “More likely than you would think!” And poped up over the counter.  “Mystical Mystery Shack, we have the best assortment of magical and mysterious items this side of Canada. The next tour will be at 1:30.”</p><p>     It was two teenagers walking up to the counter. The guy was blonde with what looked like a permanent sour expression on his face. Looked vaguely familiar, but every one did when you work at a tourist attraction. He was very golden? That was the best word Merlin could come up with. And he did look out of place, like a posh (attractive) tourist, about his age, probably going on a summer road trip with his family. The other one was a girl a bit younger than him.  Stark moon aesthetic to her brother’s sun aesthetic.  Black hair, pale sink, still looked posh and sour, but it looked a tad bit more graceful on her.</p><p>Upon seeing that it’s just two teens he bent down and grabbed his Tupperware, intent on continuing lunch. The guy was just staring at him while the girl was just staring at his pasta. But the last thing Merlin was going to do was let a Customer dictate when he could or couldn’t eat.</p><p>The girl shifted her gaze to the candy bars at the counter. Marked up to $8 per bar with their trademarked Sticker of Guias’s face. She hit him with a big smile, and wow those were bright green bands on her braces, (matched his cast pretty well tbh). “We were actually going to ask you something, it may seem strange.  Do you know Uther Pendragon?”</p><p>Merlin snorted hearing the name, lucky he didn’t choke instead. “Yeah, how could I forget him. He would come in and try to shut us down every other week claiming we are evil and going to hell because we are corrupting the town.” He didn’t have many (any) pleasant memories of the man, he used to be mayor, but was mysteriously gone from town.  He had fits of borderline cartoon villain rage. And the cops had stopped taking his calls because he tried to get Guias arrested under false pretense enough it wasn’t worth their time.</p><p>He looked down at Gwen to see if she had anything to add, but she had apparently decided her lunch break was worth more than helping him through this customer interaction because she was watching something on her phone.  If he had been looking up he would have seen the look the siblings gave each other. </p><p>But he didn’t.  It wasn’t ominous though, just, hopeful.</p><p>“Was there any reason you needed to know that? Or?...” he trailed off unsure what to say from here.  </p><p>“Actually, we’ve been looking for him.” the guy says excitedly “Do you remember the last time you saw him?” </p><p>“Why would you wanna look for that bigot?” Merlin muttered and the saw something odd in their faces, a strange expression.  A bit more, disgusted than they had been looking before.  Then he stoped and actually looked AT their faces.  He leaned his head and then and saw something something sorta familiar.  Then it clicked “You’re his kids!” They nodded. </p><p>A simple Fuck went through Merlin’s head at that.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I haven't had a broken bone since 6th grade, so like I don't remember how it felt really.  also I h8 Uther. he's a terrible dude.  Recommended by 0/10 family therapists</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. "it's All Exposition?" "Always has been"</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>anyways Uther was like 'lil gideon, but meaner cause grown men are scarry. and that's the tea on that</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Not today.” Merlin ran his good hand through his hair, most definitely messing it up, but not caring cause a nervous tick is a nervous tick. It had been an awful morning and now Mayor Pendragon has his kids here to scam Merlin? No thank you.</p><p>“What do you mean?” Morgana asked, taken aback.  He hadn’t seen them in a long time, but they were practically celebrities around here.  He and Arthur were in the same class in grade school until junior high when he was old enough to go to some fancy boarding school.</p><p>“Listen I’m not falling for this.” he started to walk out from behind the counter, “You guys need to leave. I’ve already had a bad week.  I can’t believe Uther sent his children in to do his dirty work.” They looked confused, but he just didn’t have the energy to care.</p><p>“He didn’t Send us! He’s missing.”</p><p>“That’s just what he wants me to think.” He started shooing them out, cast arm behind Arthur.</p><p>“Look-” Arthur turned around and reached to grab Merlin's arm to stop him from shooing them. Normally it would be an unwelcome, but not harmful form of contact. But he grabbed just below the cast, and Merlin’s arm was still very tender.</p><p>“OW” Merlin yelled. Arthur, realizing what he’d done dropped the arm like it was burning him. And Merlin snatched it back just as quick “JESUS FUCK!” </p><p>“I’m so sorry!” Arthur started.  </p><p>“Just get out.” Tears rimmed his eyes oh god it did hurt. This whole thing was so much worse than he remembered it hurting when he broke his leg as a kid. </p><p>“Please!” The girl said “he’s missing and you are the only person in town who knows his name!”</p><p>“I don’t Care. Get out!” thankfully they listened.</p><p>————————————————————-</p><p>“Maybe you should go and talk to them?” Gwen suggested looking at Arther and Morgana where they sad dejectedly on on the asphalt of the parking lot. He should have known they were Pendragon’s kids sooner.  What a disgusting man. With two disgusting (beautiful) children.</p><p>But they had come here saying he is missing and that no one remembered him. And they weren’t wrong. Gwen has no recollection of the mayor at ALL. He had thought she was fucking with him but it quickly became aparent that she wasn’t. Maybe there was truth to what they were saying. </p><p>“I guess I will” he said with a sigh. And before he stepped out he grabbed a book from the lost and found bin under the counter.</p><p>————————————————————</p><p>“Hey” Merlin walked out with the door singing behind him.  Arthur and morgana got up right away.  “So I asked Gwen-the girl working with me. And, well she doesn’t remember him either. And I Know, I KNOW that she knows him. But it was all just blank. So I think you two might be right? But you’ll have to tell me what exactly is happening</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. I never learned past exposition when we did the plot Mountain in English class tbh</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>So we're in Arthur's head here, a lil Flashback since I can't plan for shit and didn't have the foresight to add this before.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It's the perfect time of year<br/>
Somewhere far away from here<br/>
I feel fine enough, I guess<br/>
Considering everything's a mess.</p><p>A sad little song played on the radio, while Arthur drove home to Gravity Falls.  It was a beautiful early summer day, perfect for a drive down quiet country roads. Would make anyone happy and peaceful, but not Arthur, not today. A little tear snuck down his face. And he looked over at Morgana to make sure she was still asleep, god knows she would never let him live it down if she caught him crying to a Barenaked Ladies song.  Oh god the Shame.</p><p>Arthur sighed heavily to calm himself down. He was going to miss Camelot.  He has spent the last six years of his life there, and now it was, over? Just like that? He was handed a diploma and was suddenly an adult? Forever? And could never come back?</p><p>It’s not like he wasn’t excited for the summer and for college, but he was starting to think that he might be... sentimental. </p><p>‘Being sad about changes in life is normal’ he reminded himself, but Shockingly that didn’t make it any less painful. </p><p>A few more songs played, he made a few turns here and there and they were home.  Not he had really called this place home since he’d left for Camelot Boarding school.  He and Morgana spent maybe a month here the entire year between school and vacations.  His room looked just like it did when he was in junior high, the same ugly dinosaur sheets and junk on his desk.</p><p>He probably wouldn’t have time to change it any time soon though. He and Morgana were already packing to leave for the airport with Dad once he got home.  They were going to the UK as a graduation present. He was excited, they had been talking about this trip for a whole year, it was the only thing that kept him from turning on more mopey music and missing his friends. But it was frustrating to move from one thing to another so fast.  Maybe he wanted to lie on his bathroom floor and be sad. No one likes a mopeer’ he chided himself, after all being here too long was never good for him. This town made Arthur sad. Made him think about his mom.</p><p>So he packed, and when his dad was late he took everything out and folded it all again.  And when his dad was still not home he laid on his bed looking at the ceiling with those glow in the dark star stickers he had put on the ceiling and gotten yelled at for He was probably going to get sad again when Morgana came in to bother him.</p><p>“Hey bitch,” she said, throwing him a peace sign while she leaned against his door jam.  She didn’t say anything else just stared at him waiting for him to let her in or kick her out, as a younger sibling should.</p><p>He sat up on his elbows, “Why is dad so late? We were supposed to leave 45 minutes ago.”</p><p>She took his response as an invitation to come in and stood awkwardly in the middle of his room, “I called him and he didn’t pick up. Can you try and see if he’ll pick up for you?” The “because he likes you better” was left unspoken.</p><p>So he pulled out his phone and tried, it went instantly to voicemail, “Hey dad it’s Arthur, we were wondering where you were.  Call me when you can.”</p><p>Morgana moved to his desk chair and sat down tentatively. “I guess he’s busy.”</p><p>“Wouldn’t be the first time.” </p><p>She didn’t say anything to that, just started tinkering with some of the junk on his desk.. This wasn’t something they did -talk negatively about dad- and she didn’t seem to know what to say.  He knew she had things to say, afterall Uther (as Arthur had become inclined to call his dad when he was acting like a douche, but only in his head) had forgotten her birthday the last two years and seemed to think that sending her a check 2 months late with no note was a suitable apology.  But it was a dangerous topic to start on, so maybe it was best that she let it flop.</p><p>“Let’s go ask the cook to make us some dinner.”<br/>
...<br/>
As it turned out the cook was also not there. And when Arthur called her at the number on the fridge she stated that she didn’t know who the “Pendragon’s” nor had she ever been a cook for such a family.  And even though she sounded just like the woman who would cut the crusts off of his PB&amp;J sandwiches throughout all of his childhood, he assumed he got the wrong number, apologized, and hung up. </p><p>“I guess we’re getting take-out.” he said with a confused shrug.</p><p>Which went fine, but when the delivery driver came he said he was “Happy someone finally moved into the Mansion.” Like the Pendragon’s hadn’t been living here for longer than Arthur had been alive.</p><p>Then in the morning when Uther still hadn’t shown up he and Morgana got worried. They tried every number on the fridge, his secretaries and friends, even his barber.  But on one had seen him, or even knew who he was, or who they were.</p><p>________________________________</p><p>Merlin saw Arthur look away to a corner like he was experiencing a flashback scene in a bad soap opera.  Morgana rolled her eyes and started talking instead. "We aren't sure.  We got back from Camelot last earlier this week.  We were supposed to leave for the airport with Dad- Mayor Pendragon- but he never showed up.  We got worried and tried to call people but none of them knew who he is or even who we are." Her voice cracked, "And we thought maybe it was a phone thing, so we've been going to places in person, hoping someone recognizes one us or tells us something."</p><p>“Whew” Merlin did a little whistle noise. Very not cute, “okay, so last time I saw him, was last Friday, he cause he came in to bother me on my second day back. And when he left he left this journal behind when he stormed out.  I haven’t looked through it, but maybe it’ll have something useful??</p><p>They both lit up hearing what he had to say, Arthur (apparently snapped out of his dramatic flashback) held a hand out asking for the journal. They both stood behind him as he flipped through the pages. It appeared to be a catalogue of all of the magical creatures in the area. But Merlin wasn’t sure if he wanted to tell this to them. He wasn’t gonna broach magic with them quite yet, chances are they either hate it or didn’t believe in it and he wasn’t going to have either conversation.</p><p> </p><p>As Arthur held it up and flipped through the pages looking for something, a folded paper came out, Morgana picked it up and unfolded it. It was a map, like they sold in the gift shop, full of circles and exes and sloppy notes written over certain locations.  </p><p>“What does it mean" Morgana  furrowed her brows.</p><p>“Well this is Gravity Falls, so it looks like these are places around that he’s been? Maybe? It’s just a guess?”</p><p> </p><p>“Oh, I didn’t recognize it.” Arthur says “We’re only here about one month a year.” He and Morgana look at each other decoding something.</p><p>“Merlin, you can take us to these places right?” Arthur says.</p><p>“What you can’t read a map?” Merlin chuckles, he knows he’s being a bit of a dick, but if people can shame him for his awful sense of direction he can do it to other people too. That is how it works.</p><p>“Please,” Morgana pleads with him, “he’s our dad and he’s missing and if he doesn’t come back I may never get my braces off!”</p><p>Oof makes him of Will. When he had moved to town around 4th grade, he had braces. And his mom didn’t want to drive the hour to the orthodontist. So the two got some pliers and took care of it themselves. </p><p>“I can get some pliers if you want.  Ya know, yank them off.” He made a pulling gesture with his hands. Morgana looked horrified and Arthur stifled a laugh. Ugh he missed Will, he looked past the Pendragons to the dirt road but didn’t really see it (and no he was not having a bad soap opera flashback, he was just Thinking and didn't want to be distracted by their puppydog eyes)</p><p>"Why not? I already had my summer ruined, might as well do this too. I get off work at 6.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Maybe this is rising action? maybe?</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I clearly don't know what I'm doing. But I hope you like it!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Shockingly (or not) meeting with the Pendragon kids after work hadn’t gone too well. They (Arthur) looked at the notebook and decided that their dad must be going crazy and when Merlin opened his mouth to try and hint that he wasn’t completely insane (in that particular instance) Arthur told him that Merlin had “no room to say anything about my father you don’t even know him. You work at a magic tourist shop. You have no room to judge.”</p><p>To this Merlin had told him to be friendly. And Arthur said something along the lines of we aren’t friends. And stormed off.</p><p>And damn if that wasn’t the last straw.</p><p>The only reason he didn’t tell them both to fuck off was because Morgana had pleaded pleaded with him to stay and to help.</p><p>Seeing the tears streaming down her face he knew he couldn’t just say no to that. She was a sixteen year-old who was inexplicably missing her only parent. Merlin couldn’t imagine what he would feel like if his Mom went missing. And he could do almost all of the adult things at this point, Morgana couldn’t even go to the doctor’s by herself. Hell, she couldn’t even drive yet.</p><p>And despite Arthur being a complete and utter prat he was going through a lot at the moment. Although it wasn’t excusable to cut someone off and insult them when they offered to help you find your missing family member, Merlin reasoned that it was understandable why he wouldn't want to start any discussion on insanity.  So he collected more metaphorical straws to let the Pendragon family metaphorically knock out of his metaphor hands.</p><p>When Morgana asked for his phone number he gave it to her and when she asked if he was able to start this week he said yes, but they’ll have to work it out with his schedule. And when she ran out to find Arthur wherever he’d gone and Merlin got into his car and rolled down the windows enjoying the buzz of the insects on the nice drive home, definitely not thinking about what an asshole Arthur was, or how it only made him want to smack him for being a brat then kiss his stupid face. God he always liked the mean ones.<br/>
__________________________________________________</p><p>Morgana read the journal from cover to cover last night, carefully examining all of it. Arthur looked over it, but he had the attention span of a cat at 3 am- which is to say no attention at all. He kept muttering like he was having a fake argument. She swore she saw him say “Merlin” once or twice. Yikes.</p><p>Not long after 10:00 he gave up and went to get ready for bed, leaving the journal on the coffee table. After a quick read of the first few pages through Morgana could tell that their father was... unhinged.  </p><p>He wrote about things like elves and fairies and mermaids and vampires and that was only the first few pages.  Each of these creatures seemed horrendously evil. Blood thirsty in ways she just couldn’t imagine *tree elves* to be evil when the book literally said they made miniature baked goods in. Her father wrote that it was for devious purposes, but that he could not find them out yet.</p><p>So she did the only thing she could think to do and called Merlin. She was relieved that he had agreed to even talk to her after Arthur blew up at him like that. She tried to give Arthur a talking to about it in the car but had chickened out. </p><p>He picked up on the 4th ring</p><p>“Hi, this is Merlin,” he said customer service voice on, probably for his impeccable phone manner from answering calls at the Shack.</p><p>“Hi it’s Morgana,” she said, brow furrowed in concentration. she wasn’t quite sure how to ask this, “So I- about the journal”</p><p>Merlin took a breath on the other side of the line, like he was about to say something but then thought better of it.</p><p>“Are- well this is going to sound silly, but are all these things... real? I know Arthur didn’t want to talk about it, but I don’t think Dad was That crazy.  I saw him at Arthur’s graduation not that long ago. He didn’t seem crazy then.”</p><p>She heard a big long sigh. Then a long drawn out silence. She almost thought he had hung up.</p><p>“Yea,” Merlin said and she felt herself let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding, “it’s real, but it’s- hard to explain. I haven’t ever needed to, I don’t know- reveal magic to anyone before, but it’s all real, but not-Not how he wrote it. Not like that.”</p><p>“Oh, okay… I’m- thanks. Talk to you later.” </p><p>“Look-” Morgana hung up before Merlin could say anything more. It might be rude but she needed to process some things.</p><p>This was, well a lot to take in. She wouldn’t have asked if she didn’t expect this to be a possibility. And she wasn’t exactly surprised, like a part of her knew this already, but she felt her whole world view shift.  Things from her childhood took a different light. Her imaginary friends, the mermaids in the lake, the tiny men in the forest those Dreams she would have that so often came true. And it was a lot.</p><p>She looked at the book and these evil creatures and remembered what Merlin said “it’s all real, but not how he wrote it.” That filled her with a little bit of hope that, maybe he meant that they were all better, happy things?  </p><p>But what if they are worse? A little anxious part of her thought </p><p>She closed the journal and decided it was time for bed.</p><p>She didn’t sleep well.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. sub -plot 1: the garbage transfer station</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Morgana then Arthur’s POV.</p><p>Trollz. but I took liberties with what trolls are cause research isn't my jam. let me live</p><p>also i don't know anything about how we handle trash. but no one does. it's not okay, but well all die soon anyways.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“So where are we headed today?” Morgana asked Merlin. Arthur was standing off pretending to be interested in some of the snow globes but still clearly listening.</p><p>“I was thinking we should do the garbage transfer station.” turned the journal over so she could see it from her side of the counter. “It’s the grossest so we might as well get it out of the way.” Trolls. That’s what lived there.  Her heart rate sped up a bit.</p><p>“Why the hell would our dad be there?” Arthur said disgust on his face. Morgana wasn’t one for confrontation so she grabbed a sharpie off the pen jar on the counter and started drawing on the back of her hand.</p><p>“Birds of a feather flock together.” Merlin quoted with a small grin.  Before Arthur could say anything to him, “Morgana do you wanna sign my cast?” and held out his arm and a pen looking anywhere other than Arthur.</p><p>“Oh! Of course!” She said focusing solely on signing her name instead of her sputtering brother.  If she was honest with herself, what Merlin said about her did wasn’t that far off base. Arthur has always been his favorite, but Morgana was the child who took his wife from him. Sure he hadn’t ever said it. But he never loved her as well as he did Arthur and she deserved to be angry. So if Merlin was going to start the spark she wasn’t gonna blow it out.</p><p>“So what is a garbage transfer station?” She asked piping the sharpie closed with a click.</p><p>“Did someone say Garbage transfer station??” Guias who she only recognized from his face on those overpriced candy bars said coming out from the other room holding a disgusting looking travel shampoo bottle with the word “spit” written on it in sharpie.</p><p> </p><p>———————————————————</p><p>They drove to the dump. So, technically it was called a *garbage transfer station* but that is just too many words to process and Arthur is only a child she can only think so many words at once. </p><p>“It STINKS” Arthur said when they got out of the car. </p><p>Morgana nodded over at him but wasn't able to agree because she was too busy trying to plug her nose so she didn’t gag.</p><p>“Good thing I brought these then” Merlin grabbed some hospital masks and vaporub from the car.</p><p>“You’re a saint!” His sister exclaimed. Arthur didn’t see what was so great about Merlin. But he was still grateful to put it on.</p><p>After putting globs of vaporub under his nose and masking up. “So what are we supposed to Do here?”</p><p>“Well mayor Pendragon-your dad- wrote about it. Trolls.”</p><p>This worsened Arthur’s sour mood. How can any of this be HAPPENING. His father was, well not an ideal parent, but he wasn’t bat shit crazy. And Merlin was prejudiced against him. Thinking he was crazy. Well Arthur would too. But he Knew funny things happened in this town! Sure he hadn’t ever mentioned it to anyone, not even Morgana. But this hick has No right to judge his father or him.</p><p>He was a bit busy fuming and didn’t hear what Merlin and Morgana were saying to each other (oh shit and to him) but when they asked him if he understood he agreed and Merlin seemed satisfied. So they walked off and he followed.</p><p>They rambled around for a few minutes. God this was awful. Why would dad even be here? They had to break in, the three of them had climbed over the fence and held the barbed wire down for each other. Like savages. </p><p>He was lost in his fuming and then Next thing he knew he jumped on from behind. There was some shouting maybe from him, maybe from Morgana he couldn’t tell. A bit busy.</p><p>He tried to knock it off, but it’s not easy to get whoever had him to let go. He fell backwards against a trash pile, and felt a forearm against his neck and he realized that he couldn’t get up. This was a full grown man based on the size of the arms. Big and hairy. He didn’t stand a chance.</p><p>“Hey now!” Merlin sounded like he was... laughing, “I need you to let my fr- let him go.” </p><p>Whoever had him (must have been a huge man) relaxed his grip just a bit, but it was enough that Arthur’s lips stopped tingling and his ears stopped thrumming from lack of blood. “Emrys” And Arthur started coughing.<br/>
“Emrys-” More coughing from Arthur. “Are you done?”</p><p>Arthur didn’t respond because he was trying to not panic.</p><p>“Good. Listen Emrys, all I want is a ride home. Promise me that and I’ll let your friend go.”</p><p>“We’re not friends” Arthur muttered.</p><p>“Fine, Associate then.” Oh god this man smelled absolutely terrible. Like he slept in the garbage.</p><p>“We need something from you.” Morgana blurted out, not looking scared enough considering a huge man had him in a choke hold.</p><p>“Yea I know. I have him. No spit today! You know the drill.” the man squeezed Arthur’s neck again. Morgana looked almost like she wanted to, laugh? It was hard to tell with the mask on, but her eyes were crinkling in that way they did before she told a bad joke. That can’t be right.</p><p>“No. We need information... About Uther Pendragon.” What the hell? Information about his Dad when Arthur was here being held down? Choked out? By a Trash man??? Then Merlin sighed deeply and the light hit his eyes weird cause they turned golden, “I, Merlin Emrys, vow to deliver you safely to your home after you tell what you know about Uther Pendragon- and fill this up for me.” He said the last part really fast and pulled out one of those travel size shampoo bottles from the side pouch of his backpack.</p><p>“Bleh. Unfair!” the man let Arthur go.  He scrambled out of his reach. He was shaking as he stood up. With his hand in a fist as he approached Merlin.</p><p>“You. Son of a bitch.” he sobbed out and then socked Merlin in the jaw and he went down. Oh wow. that hurt his hand a lot more than he had expected and he was still shaking. A few more sobs escaped till he settled into controlled hyperventilation.</p><p>“Arthur what the HELL.” Morgana shrieked.</p><p>“He was going to let that man hurt me!”</p><p>“No he wasn’t! Were you not paying attention? Look at him? You could have thrown him off at any time you dipshit. You just had to grab the tail!.”</p><p>And he turned around to see his attacker. And, it couldn’t be. He was sure he was held down by a big burly man. But it was well not quite a man. Looked like a gorilla on the top and a toddler on the bottom and had a Tail?</p><p>What the fuck what the fuck what the Fuck.</p><p>“I’m gonna be sick.”  He ripped off his mask and went to retch behind a steaming pile of garbage.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>so, like, please realize Arthur was never in danger, at all. he thought he was</p><p>BUT you know when you are a child, and you tickle your brother and he gets scared out of nowhere. and then CLOCKS you. because he was so panicked.  </p><p>and it's not okay, but also you can't quite blame him because he was straight up crying while he did it?</p><p>its like that.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0008"><h2>8. sub -plot 1: get wrecked (but not in the car, verbally. please drive safe)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Merlin’s POV</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Just what everyone wants to hear.” the troll rolled its eyes and grabbed the bottle off the ground. He unscrewed the cap and started spitting in it. Normally the sound grossed Merlin out, but it competed with Arthur emptying the contents of his stomach and he would much rather hear spit than That. He could not handle vomit. </p><p>While that was happening Merlin had taken off his mask and was running some tests on his jaw to see if it still worked. Morgana was rubbing Arthur’s back while he switched to dry heaving off to the corner. What a bitch. </p><p>Merlin had suspected Arthur hadn’t been listening when he’d told them Troll 101 just a few minutes ago. But he had Not thought that Arthur would be scared enough to come over and punch his lights out while crying. It wasn’t like these little guys were any harm. Merlin had told arthur and Morgana that, that they just wanted to make a deal with them. Trolls just wanted to get back to their dumpsters most of the time, and like he’d Said just a yank to the tail and they’ll let go of about anything.  Heaven knows he’s delt with enough of them getting their various excretions first Guias.</p><p>“So Uther Pendragon,” the troll started, “he’s a nasty one. Tried to put my buddy in a cage a while back. Lucky for us he didn’t know the first thing about us troll so she got away. Took her a while to find a new dumpster though.”</p><p>“When did you last see him, and what did he want?”</p><p>“He creeps around here sometimes trying to catch us I can’t say what for.  Last saw him about a month ago, but he normally comes ever two weeks or so... So we’re long due for another game of cat and mouse.”</p><p>“You and me both.” But I’m the cat this time he mused to himself, then realize that the cat thing sounded bad, not how he meant it. But didn’t really care right now cause no one could hear him and his jaw was Throbbing. Arthur Fucking Pendragon.</p><p>————————————</p><p>After Arthur stopped dry heaving. He and Morgana came over and wanted to ask their own questions. They didn’t learn much. This troll- Kyle, as he introduced himself- didn’t have much information past what he had told Merlin already.  He sat in some blankets in the bed of the truck while Merlin drive him back to his dumpster. </p><p>They had to stop at the gas station after and morgana went in to use the restroom. Once the truck was done filling up Merlin found himself in the same car as an angry Arthur who was pointedly refusing to look at him. Normally he loved his truck and only having one front row of seats wasn’t an issue, but normally he didn’t have anyone other than himself in the car. God the air was positively toxic. That wasn’t right. If anyone should be angry it was Merlin. </p><p>“LOOK” Merlin started before thinking, then startled at the fact that he was yelling and oh fuck his magic was rising up. He shut his eyes and waited for it to pass then started again at a normal volume, “look, I know that you hate me. And that’s fine, but you and your sister came out of nowhere and asked Me- begged me for help. And I know that you were scared today. But if you had actually listened to me then you wouldn’t have been.  And you can’t FUCKING HIT ME. If you so much as Touch me again I will call the cops on you and you will Never see me or your dad again. Am I understood?”</p><p>Arthur just stared at him; face slowly changing from ashen to bright red.<br/>
Merlin looked away and gripped the steering wheel so hard his knuckles turned white. Ready for an angry response. Another fight. But it didn’t happen. </p><p>Slowly Merlin relaxed and put his face in his hands. </p><p>Softly he said “You don’t even have to be nice to me just stop being a dick. I don’t want you to not have a father I know what that’s like. But I refuse to do whatever today was again.”</p><p>“I-“ Arthur started but Morgana opened the car door.  Well that was the end of that.</p><p>Merlin snapped back to his healthy emotional distance and turned the keys.  Maybe he played the music much higher than before to prevent the possibility of conversation. And drove them back to the Shack</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0009"><h2>9. sub -plot 1: we love an emotionally intelligent boi</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Arthur’s POV</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Oh wow was he just called the fuck out.<br/>
Arthur was lucky that Morgana came into the car when she did. Because after getting over his shock Arthur was going to say some very mean things to Merlin. </p><p>For example: Merlin had No right to let him be attacked like that. Did he not know how awful this was for Arthur how scared he was . What was the point of bringing Merlin’s along if he couldn’t even prevent stuff like that. If he didn’t even CARE. he didn't need Merlin’s help. He can read a map thank you very much. And it’s not Arthur’s fault Merlin is sensitive and can’t take a punch after whar he put Arthur through not wanrinf him properly. And how Arthur would rather be anywhere but in this small town begging some hick for help. </p><p>But after the car ride back (Merlins thigh touching his, despite Arthur’s attempts to smush himself against Morgana, and eyes fixed Only on the road) he had some time to overcome his initial defensiveness and now he felt, Bad. Really bad.  Shame overcame him for what he had done. He’s never punched someone like that before. Never wanted to. And he could see the red mark on merlins cheek probably forming into a bruise. Oh god that had been him. He’d done that and Merlin wasn’t even at fault if only he’d listened.</p><p>When it was time for Arthur to slide out and get into his own car he let Morgana get out and shut the door behind her putting him with just Merlin.</p><p>Arthur didn’t really have a plan for what to say but he knew he had to say something, “Merlin. I-“</p><p>“Arthur, I don’t want to talk about it” Merlin wasn’t looking at him, and he couldnt blame him, “just needed to lay down some ground rules.”</p><p>“I’m sorry!” Arthur blurted, he Had to get this straight now before he lost his nerve and it festered. Cause this would fester, no doubt about it., “Things have been hard and you were the easiest for me to project onto. It’s not an excuse. I never should have touched you. I’m sorry. It’s not right. I’ll do better. I will. And if you don’t want to work with me, and only with Morgana I understand. ”</p><p>Merlin looked over at him, expression still guarded but the tension had gone from his shoulders.</p><p>“As long as you don’t ever do something like that again. We can be...Associates?”.</p><p>“Associates.” Arthur held his hand out for a shake. And Merlin made firm eye contact with him and grabbed it and shook his bright green cast rubbing in Arthur palm uncomfortably. oh fuck he didn’t even think about that what an idiot. But Arthur wasn’t about to say anything. He let go and got out of the car vowing to be better</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I want it to be know that Merlin has a truck, but not an annoying one. It’s pretty old (only had a tape slot and the radio old) Dark blue and had no AC. It was a hand me down car</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0010"><h2>10. sub -plot 2: he's in a boat, and its going fast, and</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>so like a week has passes since the last chapter. and please don't forget that these are bumb ditch (dumb bitch) hours around the clock</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Long chapters are simply not in the cards.</p><p>Anyways I know how the story will end, but if anyone has any magical beings they would like to see lmk as I can only think about 3 thoughts a day</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Merlin was Sick. (Sick of this Shit) but actually he was ill™️. He hadn’t felt warm since Tuesday. And he Could barely talk, and this happened to him sometimes. But to be mute And unable to use his dominant arm fully? Unjust! </p><p>He was down to texting as a main form of communication and it was too frustratingly long to type anything out with his non-dominant thumb, which was why he had been doing phone calls or in person things. He thought he had been feeling better.  The fever had passed. He had felt almost normal this morning. But his immune system had other ideas. So here he was in the middle of a rowboat on the lake on a 90 degree day with his hoodie strings pulled as tightly as possible to try and keep warm. </p><p>“Merlin you look Ridiculous.” Arthur said good naturedly. After their talk in the car Arthur had changed completely. After Morgana picked their next location/creature Arthur took an active role in everything. Like an eager to please puppy he helped with research, prep, and brought Merlin chicken soup when he told them he was sick. Well, he had tried to make him soup, he brought the cab, but He didn’t know how to cook it and had tried to microwave it while still in the can and set their microwave on fire. But then he bought them a new one. It was really sweet.</p><p>“Talk about the pot calling the kettle black!” Morgana exclaimed. Merlin tried to laugh but it came out as an unsettling wheeze so he stopped.  Arthur did look ridiculous. He was in an orange camouflage bucket hat with poorly rubbed in sunscreen, white zinc on his nose, and wrap around sunglasses.</p><p>“It’s called skincare Morgana” he drawled, “Some of us want to look good past 35.” </p><p>“Some of us want to get laid before 35.” Merlin rasped. Some things were worth the sacrifice.</p><p>Morgana laughed to us mid paddle that she jerked and splashed everyone.</p><p>Arthur stuck out his tongue but Merlin could see the mirth in his eyes. Turns</p><p>“But really, are you okay?” Arthur asked, concerned, “We can head back if you're not feeling up to it.”</p><p>Merlin shook his head and Morgana resumed rowing. “It’s fine Arthur, he wouldn’t have agreed to come if he wasn’t feeling up to it. And we’re already almost there.”</p><p>Merlin agreed that he had been feeling up to it when they had started the day, but felt much less up to it as their trip went on. He had tried more than once using magic to speed them up. But he felt dizzy when he tried so he had given up.  But Morgana was right in saying they were almost there. He had resigned himself to being miserable because miserable outside was better than miserable in his house like he’d been for the past few days. And unlike the trolls, this was an entirely new being, so he wasn’t about to miss this chance.</p>
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<a name="section0011"><h2>11. sub -plot 2: if you don't stan twilight then you must be sad</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>just some character development shown? maybe? this isn't me being cheeky, i have no clue.</p><p>anyways </p><p>ARTHUR can't cook and I need that to be KNOWN. and he's too proud to ask for help</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Vampires. They were going to this island looking for vampires. Dad wrote about them so now they had to check them out.</p><p>Morgana had made him and Merlin watch the entire Twilight Saga in preparation for this trip. And no he did not *feel* things despite what Gwen said. He was Not whipping his eyes when “possibility” played as the seasons passed Bella by. Nope. He most definitely did Not download the entire discography either. </p><p>But to supplement their vampire knowledge past the oh so factual Twilight Saga, Merlin and Gwen also made them a google slides presentation complete with pictures and slide transitions. But he was clear that he didn’t have any first hand experience with vampires so they weren’t quite sure what to expect. But they had all reasoned that they couldn’t be that bad because no one in gravity falls had ever had an issue with vampires.</p><p>In the name of safety Arthur had forced himself to eat an entire clove of garlic with every meal the past few days.  And sure it hurt and his breath smelled awful, but it was better than the possibility of getting bitten and turned into a drudge . Along the same line of prevention he had packed his back pact full of goodies. A crucifix, 3 wooden stakes, holy water, a baggy of rice, and a small silver mirror, and butterfly nets.  He had debated becoming a minister, but wasn’t sure that there was time, and Merlin said that you probably had to be serious about the whole religion thing for it to work anyways.  </p><p>He wanted Merlin to know that he meant business. He needed Merlin to know.</p><p>On the topic of Merlin, he looked rather vampire-esque today. He had told them that he was feeling better, and honestly he had looked it. But whatever sparkle he had before lunch was fast fading. Maybe they should have waited another few days? Or tried another place, one that was easier to get to. Rowing this dinghy was not easy, as he and Morgana had discovered, and they had to take turns to across to the island (which was covered in Private Property signs). But they were almost there, maybe 10 more good strokes and it would be time for him to get out and bring them in.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0012"><h2>12. sub -plot 2: if you had the chance to find a vampire? wouldn't you?</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Morgana was less than impressed.  </p><p>She had come out here looking for a hot vampire, or at least A vampire and they had been all over this island and there was Nothing. All of the Private Property signs and the island was empty.  Not even that ominous. It took them less than 20 minutes to walk around and through the entire island.  What was the Point of vampires if they weren’t even going to have an aesthetic???</p><p>Merlin had started feeling decidedly terrible and needed to go and lie down.  And they took a break for snacks.  She felt a twinge of guilt at not agreeing that should turn around seeing Merlin was laying in fetal position looking ready to die. But Arthur was busy fussing over him (see panicking. He had never handled sick people well), so she didn’t have much to do and was Not about to row home her arms were sore!</p><p>“I’m going to take a walk.” she decided and stood up.</p><p>“No,” Arthur decided, “Morgana I don’t think it’s safe for you to walk around by yourself.” </p><p>She knew that the troll incident had really shaken Arthur.  But she really didn’t worry the same way as him, and they had been across this entire island already. So she had to find something that would scare him more.</p><p>“I have to pee. And I’m Not about to do that infront of you two.”</p><p>He turned red, which was aggressively noticeable behind the white smears of sunscreen on his face. “Yeah, please don’t do that.”</p><p>“That’s kind of the whole idea here.” She said and walked off to the tiny woods. Once she reached the middle (which was most shadowy and ominous, so she figured it was the best place to find a vampire). She pulled down her turtleneck over the left side of her neck “oH nO look at me! a girl! all alone in the woods. I hope a sexy vampire doesn’t see me and fall madly in love with me and drink my blood.”</p><p>“You don’t want that baby girl.” A gravely male voice called.</p><p>Morgana turned around quickly and saw a tall dark figure come out from behind a tree. Now we’re talking. “Oh, why not?”</p><p>“We are monsters. Cursed. To take life from another just to survive.” He approaches Morgana slowly, still cast in shadow. Morgana closed her eyes as she felt her come closer, she had taken every precaution possible-aside from eating raw garlic like some idiot she knew-and would be damned if she didn’t get to live out her sexy vampire fantasy. “Never to see the sun, never to eat food, never to age.” he almost whispered into her ear. She gently opened her mouth and leaned her head to the side. “To be hunted.”</p><p>“How old are you?”</p><p>“22.” he answered, breath cool on Morgana's neck.</p><p>“How long have you been 22?”</p><p>There was a long pause. Oohhh! So mysterious!</p><p>“A while.” he mumbled at last. She nearly screamed with joy! Just like Twilight. A big part of her wanted to keep the script going, but she honestly was sort of fuzzy on the next few lines so it was time to stop. Morgana was moving her hand to her Fanny pack to grab at the travel size crucifix Arthur had given her.</p><p>Then Morgana felt a crusty hand touch her cheek and try to move her head to tilt to the side. Decidedly unsexy. And opened her eyes. This vampire was absolutely CAKED in mud and the only thing that wasn’t covered in the stuff was his wrap around sunglasses. </p><p>“EW!” She screamed and jumped back opening her eyes, “What the fuck!”</p><p>The vampire/Mud monster startled but tried to grab her arm to keep her close. “Come on Babe! don’t be like that!”</p><p>“Don’t Touch me!” She jerked her arm away and had to swat at him when he reached for her again, “Do you Realize how expensive this top is?! You’re filthy!”</p><p>“You don’t need to worry about the top, you're so beautiful anything would look good on you.” he tried to say with a smirk.  But turns out smirks don’t look very good when you are Covered in thick mud.</p><p>“I am a Child! A Minor!! Get the hell away!” she backed up again and reached for her fanny pack with her vampire repellent supplies.</p><p>“You Literally said you wanted a vampire to fall in-love with you and drink your blood!”</p><p>“I was kidding!” she snapped exasperated, still walking backward to get away, “Read the room!” then her back hit a tree. </p><p>“Well isn’t this cozy,” He put one arm on either side of the tree and pushed up against her -getting mud Everywhere- and trapping her.  </p><p>“Let me go!” she almost had the crucifix in her grasp. She could feel it’s cold metal edges and wished she could see inside the fanny pack on her hip. But she couldn’t look away from his mouth, his teeth were comically long. Oh god he actually had Fangs. Part of her wanted to laugh but another, much Much bigger part of her was panicking.</p><p>“So thirsty...” he murmured leaning in towards her neck getting mud all over her face.</p><p>Lucky for her she had fully grasped the crucifix, less lucky she couldn’t use it to ward him off.  But anything could be used as a weapon if you hit someone hard enough.</p><p>And he leaned down to bite her. </p><p>“FUCK!” he yelled, grabbing his shoulder where she had stabbed him with the long end of the crucifix. But it was stuck in his arm and he didn’t seem able to touch it.</p><p>“ARTHUR!” She yelled realizing calling for help was never had. Now that she had a second to breath she remembered what she learned from her martial arts classes as a girl.  She grabbed his wrist, did a side step, a sweep,  and a pivot and had him belly to the ground, arm pinned behind his back. And she then went and sat on top of him just to make sure he was down. Ew this muddy man was so gross the mud was making her pants feel even worse than they already did with all the sweat.</p><p>“Morgana are you okay?” Arthur panted. Hands on his knees. </p><p>She was about to tell him he was out of shape until she realized that he had run to help her when she was in danger, which was surprisingly very sweet and she had not expected. And he was already emotionally stunted enough he didn’t need her to make it worse.  “I found the vampire!” she said with a smile.</p>
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<a name="section0013"><h2>13. sub -plot 2: ooh! I have brought a prop back into the tale</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>I cannot write action or dialogue. #thriving</p>
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    <p>Upon hearing Morgana yell, Arthur panicked and Sprinted towards his sister’s voice. All while Merlin was still registering what was happening. It took him a good 5 seconds to process what had happened then another 5 to roll out of the fetal position, grab Arthur’s insanely heavy bookbag and start trudging to the approximate middle of this small, yet densely vegetated island. </p><p>Merlin knew that he should be more worried, but his magical intuition (and exhaustion) told him that there was no need to rush. Everything was Fine. But he was minorly concerned that he would have a hard time finding them with the dense brush and all. Lucky him it didn’t turn out to be a huge problem though because he just meandered towards the sound of Arthur yelling very creative choice words and Morgana laughing. Until he saw Arthur’s Atrocious bucket hat and followed that instead. What is the point of camo if it’s going to be Not camouflage colors???</p><p>When he got there Morgana was the dirtiest he had ever seen anyone and sitting on a huge pile of mud with sunglasses stuck on it. And Arthur was Yelling? At? The? Mud? Merlin knew that rich people took their expensive clothing seriously, but this was wild. </p><p>Oh shit the mud was moving!</p><p>“Merlin!” Morgana waved him over, “as you can see I caught the vampire.”</p><p>That made sense? Maybe? He nodded, and started to clear his throat to start talking. But Arthur seemed to have calmed down enough for sentences because he said “Morgana what were you thinking? I knew letting us split up was a bad idea!”</p><p>She pouted and crossed her arms, “Well I got him just fine all by myself. It wasn't even that hard.”</p><p>“Are you even sure that is a vampire and not some homeless man covered in mud?”</p><p>The vampire hissed at that. Oh wow that looked so lame in real life. “I am a vampire thank you very much. If you must know I have to be covered in mud to protect myself from the sun when it’s daytime.”</p><p>“Don’t you have a coffin or something?” Arthur sassed it.</p><p>“Not since the Mayor came by and Stole it from me!” The three of them shared a look at this but the vampire kept going, this was apparently a sensitive topic. “ I was just Minding my own business, on my Birthday! And suddenly a man comes to my island and starts throwing holy water! HOLY WATER all over the place and chanting in fucking Latin or something. And that stuff doesn't really do much to me- I'm an athiest-but I’m not dumb. I know he means business.  And I really don't want to deal with hunters again" he shuddered, "so I hid before he saw me. But then he took my coffin laughing about how I was gonna burn up in the sun now! and he Shoved it into the lake. And now I have nowhere to sleep that isn't covered in dirt and grass.”</p><p>“When was this?” Morgana asked.</p><p>“April 5th. My birthday! I turned 22 for the 18th time this year!”</p><p>“You Pervert!” Morgana pushed his muddy face into the mud below him. “Trying to drink a minor’s blood! How many girls have you attacked?!”</p><p>He spit out grass from his mouth and stated proudly “I hadn’t even drank from a person since 2001! I’m a recovering addict! I stay mainly to squirrels here thank you very much.”</p><p>“You tried to drink my blood less than 5 minutes ago!”</p><p>“Well yeah but you offered." he said sheepishly, "I wasn’t about to say no.”</p><p>Arthur threw her a “what the hell” glare and she responded with “It was a Joke!”</p><p>Merlin saw that they weren’t going anywhere fast and wanted to get this over with so he could go home and nap. So started clearing his throat which involved a lot of very gross hacking.</p><p>“Have-“ he croaked stopped and started again still croaking but a little more normal, “have you seen him since?”</p><p>“No buddy,” He shook his muddy head, “You okay there? You don’t sound so good.”</p><p>“He’s got a cold.” Arthur said cutting off the vampires attempt to talk more.</p><p>“I have some questions,” Merlin continued, pulling the journal out of the backpack and grabbing a pencil out of his hoodie pocket. This was a rare opportunity to discover something new and he was going to learn what he could when he could. “But first I need your word that you won’t hurt us if we let you go. Can you swear it to me?”</p><p>“Fine,” The vampire sighed, and although Merlin couldn’t see his eyes behind those ugly sunglasses, he could tell he was rolling them. "I, Terry, swear that I won’t be involved in any form of harm to Arthur, Morgana, or what’s your name I didn’t catch it?”</p><p>“Merlin Emrys” Merlin whispered. Terry tensed a smidge hearing his last name.</p><p>“-or Emrys.” And Merlin felt the swear settle in and knew his eyes flashed their telltale gold like they did whenever magic flowed through him.</p><p>“You can get off of me now honey.” Terry snapped at Morgana. And once she did Merlin sat down next to him and started asking his questions.<br/>
—————————————————</p><p> </p><p>While Merlin was busy Arthur and Morgana gave each other a look. Sure he had said that most creatures of magic could be subdued with a swear. But that didn’t explain why they had both actually seen Merlin's eyes glow gold the entire time that Terry was making his oath. Something fishy was going on with him.</p><p>-------------------------------</p><p>Turns out Stephanie Meyer got it wrong Merlin thought. Terry-what a terrible name for a vampire- did have a few decidedly Twilight-esque vampire traits.  For example: he was weird as hell and didn’t drink from people.  But that was the end of the list there.  Otherwise he tended more towards traditional vampires, but with no aversion to religious things. He said it was because he was atheist, but Merlin wasn’t going to rule it out for any future vampires he met.  He did have an aversion to running water, the sun, and garlic though. And he could turn into a bat.  But it wasn’t a great means for escape because if he had done it while Morgana was sitting on top of him she would have crushed him still. </p><p>The only really weird part was how he had become a vampire. There were no other vampires involved. He and his friends had decided to trespass on the island because that’s what dumb 20 somethings do for fun in a small town. And he had been dared to lie down in the mysterious coffin on the ground. And when he got out he was a vampire. Decidedly disappointing and frightening at the same time. But that didn’t really surprise Merlin considering all of the other disappointing magical realties. He frowned thinking of the first time he saw a mermaid.</p><p>After getting as much out of Terry as he had the patience for, he asked if he would show up in a photo.  Turns out he had never tried it before, which made sense being stuck on this island for 22 years. Merlin rifled around Arthur’s backpack for the camera Will gave him.  Now was as good a time as any to use it, for science.</p><p>“Is that a camera?” Terry asked.</p><p>He nodded. </p><p>“We should pose with how I caught him!” Morgana said excitedly walking over. “Merlin you’ll pose next to me! Arthur, can you take the photo?”</p><p>Arthur grumbled, but game over to grab the camera. </p><p>“Well it’s not like Merlin can take it! Look at his arm!” Morgana manhandled Merlin to squat next to her. And made him take his hood off.</p><p>“Say cheese!” Arthur said.</p><p> </p><p>The photo developed the boat ride home and Merlin felt dumb for not realizing that the mud would obviously show up on the photo even if the vampire wouldn’t. But he still felt a strange sense of warmth knowing he’d have this memory to look at.</p>
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<a name="section0014"><h2>14. Chapter 14</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Get in losers we’re going shopping!” Merlin called out to Arthur and Morgana from Gwen’s passenger seat.  Gwen giggled and took a long sip of her smoothie and put her shades down.  </p><p>“Sorry Regina,” Morgana scoffed with a smile, “but I don’t think you could take me to a shop with my caliber of clothing.” </p><p>“Morgana you and I literally went to TJ Maxx last week.” Arthur ribbed and climbed into the back of the jeep. Old upholstery drooping down and resting on his hair when he finally settled, it made him think of being in a circus tent.</p><p>“One cannot be a fashionista without first being a Max-inista” she relied sagely, climbing in the car behind Arthur.</p><p>They all sang along to a few songs on the radio while they drove until commercial break came along and Morgana said “Damn bitch, you live like this???”</p><p>“No license means no opinion.” Merlin relied for Gwen as she made a lane change #safe driver.</p><p>Gwen heard a song that was “her favorite” and turned up her music so that the rear view mirror shook.  Normally Merlin would say it was too loud, but “Holding out for a Hero” was worth hearing damage, so he couldn’t complain.</p><p>“So are we actually going shopping!?!?” Arthur yelled directly into his ear over the radio, but just as the song ended, so actually over very silent car. </p><p>Oh he was very close. Merlin felt his breath against his neck. </p><p>“Nah,” Merlin after a long slurp of his smoothie to drag his thoughts away from Arthur and his dumb face, “your dad wrote about a two butted cow he saw on a hike so I figured we’d check it out.”</p><p>“TWO BUTTED COW!” Gwen cheered, taking a sharp turn at a speed that would have made anyone’s mother grab the handle above the passenger window. </p><p>Merlin had picked this because after some self reflection (meaning a talk with gwen where she told him he was a “fucking idiot” for taking two people he barely knew to a island to look for a mystical beast he didn’t know anything about) he figured that vampires may have been a bit too much for them to start with. And decided that something within driving distance may be the best option.  </p><p>Also Merlin knew this… cow. And he knew that it wasn’t anything special. Just an excuse to hang out honestly.</p><p>“We’re HERE!!”</p>
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